thanks for the link, those look great (apart from the wierd focus in the shot with the flowers). ISO 6400 is c l e a n.

Bret

I don't understand why they demand a DD in the UK, they certainly don't here or in Germany, which is where my account is still registered, I think. The authorisation limits are high enough, too.

I've just checked and my account is associated with my PP, but money is *never* taken from there, only deposited.

hypothesis: Paypal want the DD because it's more secure for them than a CC payment. CCs are subject to lots of fraud, so the CC companies will refund first, charge PP back and then they have difficulties proving that things went wrong. DD is directly with a customer, who is far less likely to argue successfully that PP are at fault. Make sense?

Bret

an addendum:

PP in Luxembourg is under the supervision of the CSSF...

http://www.cssf.lu/index.php?id=1&L=1

PP is listed under "Banks": http://www.cssf.lu/fileadmin/files/Listes/Entites_surveillees/liste_banques_1310...

Wikipedia also confirms that PP is regulated by the CSSF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal

from http://baseswiki.org/en/Banking_Ombudsman,_Luxembourg

My french isn't up to this, but it would ring true. I would suggest complaining at the Luxembourg guys that PP don't stick to their own rules. You may not get satisfaction, but if everyone did it, then there would be fewer problems as they'd know their fingers are being watched...

Hope this helps.

Bret

I personally do not have my bank account connected with my PP account for chargeables. It's my balance and then my credit card. The account is only there for withdrawals. Is this different in the UK? Why not set the default funding method to the card?

I have heard of many people who have had their fingers burned with PP, so I'd remove the DD, set up another card with, say, £50 on it, and that's ONLY for PP.

Since my Credit card got cloned in March I've used PP a lot more and it seems to work this way quite nicely. Money moves around within a couple of days and I have *some* form of comeback - also against PP via the credit card company. Even if that does take weeks...

I would also not do anything like this on the phone. Everything in writing. Takes a second longer and it's a lot cheaper to send an email or even a registered letter.

Moving funds around the €-using EU is really easy and quick with an IBAN and BIC, it's just moving them out of the UK is stupidly expensive and PP offers a cheap, quick and easy way to do this.

Just because PP is registered in Luxembourg... hmm, I suspect you can complain against them in Luxembourg, in English, too.

Bret

I need a stand or two and I'm thinking about the 1314 background kit (which is essentially two 052s + bar) and a 420B. The 420 will be used mainly as hair light, with umrella'd D-Lite 2 and 4 on either side. I was thinking about another D-lite2 for hair, maybe just one of my Sigma EF500s.

Anyone used this boom and has comments? I know I need a sandbag. I'll probably also get an adapter so I can mike it up for video.....

thanks!

Bret

I know how we do testing and it's either worst or best case.
The spec apparently says (for a K10D) 4 RAWs. I get 8 with an Ultra III.

If the system is designed to output just as fast as it can, then the limit is more the card and then the output speed, along with the size of the pics / datavolume.

I don't know and I doubt that Pentax will ever publish how they get the numbers they put in the paperwork; I know we don't.

The other thing: different pics have different sizes in RAW. I've seen 9MB, I've seen 16MB. Comparing apples with oranges or making things look good? Depends on your viewpoint, methinks.

Bret

I'd expect this to be taken with a pinch of salt if you have a decent SD card? I know my buffer on the K10D is shown as 8 RAW and then it keeps going just as fast as it can write, which is pretty rapid...

Bret

No.
Someone, somewhere, gets to make a decision. That decision becomes a starting point for discussion. I've seen it again and again - until someone says "this is happening like this" or tables a concrete idea, NOTHING HAPPENS. I have sooo many people here who are interested in doing something but only if it's offered to them on a plate. They won't phone, they won't ask friends, they'll wait until it happens. And then they're enthusiastic.

Start somewhere, with some ideas. They don't even have to be usable or enforceable, but without initial ideas, no-one will think about them and then someone will start whining immediately afterwards because it "doesn't wooooorkk. muuuuuuuuum!". Then it's already too late.

Hit the newbies. Why? because otherwise you get a load of newbs selling stuff or trying to advertise dodgy links and the mods have too much work. Make it easy on them if you're going to give them more work.


If you see paying advertiser's adverts, then fair enough. I don't.
I don't want them, I don't need them, they waste my bandwidth.

Anyone who advertises anything anywhere MUST be prepared to have their prices taken apart with the internet. If someone's offering a crappy service for a crappy price... then that's their problem. I don't see what's unfair about showing other offers on the net. It's no more than is done on a dozen different websites across the globe. The point here is you also get an opportunity to share a cool find with others who may be more interested / able to partake than you. I think that's a very positive thing.
It's also then more organised that the present where it's obvious no-one knows where to put curry's offers. IMO: If you want your users to categorise properly, give them the correct categories for what *they* are looking for and make it easy.

Bret

... and if SRS want to post their newest stocklist, this is where they could do it, no?

Why's it unfair to paying advertisers? Because their deals have to stand up to the scrutiny of the internetz?

Anyway, decent forum software also allows the option of pre-moderation, i.e. the threads are only published after someone gives their OK.

Bret

It's called democracy. You know, listening to what your members want?

Besides, the rules (is it rules or disclaimer?) state

End of.

It's "merely" another forum and I think it's reasonable to ask a Mod to do their job, even if they do do it on a voluntary basis. They might well also get something out of it....

As far as the newbies are concerned... too many people register to forums to spam. For Sale sections on most forums are not open to the public, some I know you can't even see until you've got 100 (non-spam) posts.

Bret